Seasonal access to prenatal and Basic Emergency Obstetric Care (BEmOC) in Cross River State, Nigeria
Edet Otu, Ravi Maheswaran and Hannah Jordan
University of Sheffield, UK
: J Womens Health, Issues Care
Abstract
In Cross River State of Nigeria, prenatal care and Basic Emergency Obstetric care (BEmOc) are usually provided in Primary Health Centres (PHCs). These maternal services are often conceived to be accessible throughout the year. The objective of this study was to examine seasonal variability in access to prenatal and BEmOc services in Cross River State, Nigeria. Geographical Information System (GIS) was used to measure seasonal variability of maternal access to government managed PHCs by drive time. The study included 960,361 females between 15-49 years from the 2015 estimated population of Cross River State and 119 PHCs. In the dry season, the ratio of PHCs to females within 15-49 years was 12.4 per 100,000 while in the wet season it was 7.0 per 100,000. While population access was 100% in the dry season, only 44.3% (425,824) had access in the wet season. In the dry season, mean drive time in the affected districts were 40.2 and 35.0 minutes for Central Senatorial District (CSD) and Southern Senatorial District (SSD) respectively while in the wet season, mean drive time increased to 68.8 and 67.6 minutes in CSD and SSD respectively. Also, only 56% (52) of all PHCs were available throughout the year. This study provides useful evidence for the actualisation of interventions targeted at improving maternal health and reduction of child and maternal mortality in Cross River State and Nigeria.
Biography
Edet Otu is a PhD student in the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health, University of Sheffield, UK. His PhD research is funded with grants from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Cross River State Government (CRSG), Nigeria. Before his PhD, he was a GIS Analyst/Land Surveyor in the Office of the Surveyor-General in Cross River State, Nigeria. He had his Master’s degree in Geographical Information Systems with Remote Sensing from the University of Greenwich, UK. He is passionate about channelling his knowledge in geomatics into solving health-related problems.
